Activists held a rally in Hamburg on Tuesday to protest the Turkish government over a drone strike in Syria that killed a driver and seriously injured a journalist, the JIN news agency reported.
On Aug. 23, a suspected Turkish drone strike in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled northeast hit a car belonging to the all-female broadcaster JIN TV, killing driver Najm el-Din Faisal Haj Sinan and wounding journalist Dalila Agid.
Dijla Eito, a member of JIN TV’s board, on Monday told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that Agid had undergone surgery and was in intensive care as of Friday.
Protestors held placards that said “Occupier Turkish army, take your hands off of Kurdistan” during Tuesday’s rally, which was organized by the Hamburg Rojbin Women’s Assembly and Defend Rojava initiative.
The activists also chanted the slogans “Jin Jiyan Azadî” (Women, Life, Freedom), “Bijî Berxwedana Rojava” (Long Live the Resistance of Rojava) and “Terrorist Erdoğan,” in reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Speaking during the rally, Leyla Kaya, representative of the Rojbin Women’s Assembly, said the attack on press workers was a crime against humanity.
“Turkey cannot end our struggle by killing us. Kurds are people who are in love with their freedom. We will never turn back from this path, no matter the cost,” Kaya added.
Women’s rights activist Anja Flach, who spoke on behalf of Defend Kurdistan, also said that the attack on JIN TV was also a vile attack on women’s struggle for freedom.
“The Western states that support fascist Erdoğan and remain silent in the face of these massacres are as guilty as those who commit these atrocities,” she added.
According to a report by the Bianet news website on Monday, the Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform (MKGP) and the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) issued a joint statement condemning the attack.
Recalling previous instances where Kurdish journalists were killed in Syria, they called for a strong response from human rights organizations and journalists associations, saying they should not remain indifferent to these attacks.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Monday urged Turkish authorities to launch an immediate investigation into the attack and to hold the perpetrators accountable.
“We are deeply saddened by the killing of media employee Faisal Haj Sinan while performing his work and wish a speedy recovery to our colleague Dalila Agid. … Crimes against journalists must not go unpunished,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.
Turkey has previously said that its strikes in northern Syria target outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.
The PKK, which has been waging a bloody campaign in Turkey’s southeast since 1984, is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community.
